Many golfers would like to improve their chipping, pitching and putting, and especially pitching and chipping from bad lies. When a golfer finds his ball off the green in the fringe cut, in the rough, or in the sand trap within 50 yards of the hole, most golfers have a difficult time getting the ball into the hole without making at least three or more strokes. Additionally, striking the ball consistently is particularly difficult when the ball is in a bad lie. Many types of golf clubs called wedges have been created in an attempt to improve the golfer""s ability to get the ball into the hole with fewer strokes when the ball is within 50 yards or so of the hole. However, with current wedges, golfers often unintentionally blade the ball. When using a swing effort required for a cleanly struck shot, blading propels the ball far beyond the hole. In other words, the golfer strikes the ball with the blade of the club head located between the wedge face and the front portion of the sole of the club head. Also, using approximately the same swing effort, many golfers often chunk the ball. In this case, rather than blading the ball, the golfer swings lower and causes the leading edge of the wedge to dig into the ground before impacting the ball, thus resulting in the shot ending up far short of the hole.
Many golfers also have difficulty making accurate shots from sand traps around the green. Normally, the problem with these shots is that the golfer takes too little or too much sand when the golfer swings to strike the ball. Sometimes, depending on the sand conditions, the sole of the wedge may actually bounce off of the sand before striking the ball, again causing a poor shot.
Yet another difficult shot for most golfers is attempting to putt when the ball is adjacent to or on the fringe around the green, or putting or chipping when the ball is near or in the rough around the green. Quite often, it is difficult to strike the ball cleanly with a putter, yet using a wedge under these conditions often proves to be too delicate of a shot for most golfers.
The invention is a versatile golf club which in its preferred embodiment can be used both for putting and hitting relatively short wedge shots. The golf club can be described as a putting wedge. Preferably, the golf club comprises a club head which comprises a hosel that is connected to the bottom of a club shaft, a wedge face, a sole, and a putting face located along a blade area between the wedge face and a front portion of the sole. The putting face has substantially a 0xc2x0 loft relative to the shaft, and the wedge face has a loft relative to the shaft greater than 70xc2x0, and preferably substantially about 90xc2x0 (although the loft may be somewhat greater than 90xc2x0).
The putting wedge allows the golfer to intentionally and consistently xe2x80x9cbladexe2x80x9d the ball with the putting face during the stroke. This controlled blading of the ball moves the ball within the distance intended by the golfer subject only to the resistance of the grass or other earth surface over which the ball will roll or hop. The golfer may also use the putting wedge to putt the ball when the ball is on the green. In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the putting face strikes the golf ball at or slightly above the equator of the golf ball. This type of impact with the golf ball facilitates top spin, and therefore energy transfer to the ball is relatively pure. The top spin helps the ball roll consistently because it reduces the initial skid of the golf ball which is typical when the putt is struck underneath the equator of the ball. With top spin after impact, the putting wedge is able to improve distance, control, and accuracy on the line intended by the golfer. The sole of the golf club is rounded, and a crown on the rounded sole is intended to slide easily along the surface of the green (or other surface) during the part of the putting stroke in which the putting face impacts the ball. This further improves consistency.
The golfer can also use the club on short chips by xe2x80x9cde-loftingxe2x80x9d the wedge face, which is accomplished by holding their hands forward of their normal position (see FIG. 5) and taking the chip shot. The wedge face will loft the ball at a steep angle. The rounded sole adjacent the flat leading edge contacts or brushes the grass or earth during the stroke. Because the sole of the club head is rounded and the hands are placed forward, swing drag through the grass is minimized. Therefore, the golfer is able to hit these delicate shots consistently and accurately.
The putting wedge can also be used to hit a very high lob shot when the golfer closes the wedge face by rotating the toe of the club down towards the ground before making the stroke. The club is preferably designed to allow the golfer to lob the ball up and onto the green from the rough, or a sand trap around the green. The club head has a leading apex preferably at the intersection of the wedge surface, the sole, the toe of the club head, and the blade portion (which is preferably a putting face) between the wedge face and the sole. Between the crown of the rounded sole and the leading apex, the sole consists of a spade portion which is generally triangular and slightly convex. Preferably, the angle between the wedge face and the spade portion is within the range of 30xc2x0-60xc2x0. The wedge face preferably contains parallel grooves along its face which are aligned in a direction perpendicular to which the leading apex is pointing. The grooves contact the ball during a lob shot and generate backspin when the ball is struck after the wedge face has been turned inward to close the wedge face. When used in this fashion, the club is more consistent than contemporary sand wedges because the leading apex and spade portion of the sole cut through the ground easily and quickly without providing significant resistance to the club head when taking the stroke. The club head also has less tendency to bounce when performing a lob shot in the rough or stand trap. When used in this fashion, the club is especially useful when golfers need to play the ball from a difficult lie.
The putting wedge as described herein minimizes errant shots. It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the putting wedge described above may be helpful to allow golfers to get up and down more consistently.